I Can't

Unity

A month later

Walking into the nursery, Stevie smiled every time, as she bent over the railing of the crib, seeing the face of her and Lindsey's baby boy. He was unlike their other three. Aiden, it was the name Sara had chosen for her little brother, was so calm, at first Stevie thought there was something wrong with him. He definitely was a ray of sunshine, bringing the whole family so much closer together. 

"Hey there, angel." She scooped the boy up and into her arms, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Did you sleep well, baby? You're so good, letting Mommy and Daddy have way more sleep than your older siblings did." Stevie spoke, carrying her son back into the bedroom. "Now, you have to be very quiet." She whispered. "It's Daddy's birthday today and we want to surprise him." Kissing Aiden's chubby cheek, she talked to him, walking around the bed to Lindsey's side. "We're going to give Daddy his first present. And you know what's that?" Asking as if the baby was going to answer the question, although, he looked up at her with big eyes, almost like he understood every word. "That's your beautiful smile, Ady."

 Laying Aiden on Lindsey's chest, as he was lying on his back, she had her hands on both if the boy's sides, sitting down on the edge of the bed, waiting for Lindsey to sense the extra weight on his front. A moment later, with his eyes still closed, Lindsey smiled, placing his hands over Stevie's, that were resting on their son's back, as he then opened his eyes, seeing Aiden's blue ones staring back at him, he then looked up at Stevie. 

"Well good morning to you two, as well." Lindsey sat up and rested his back against the headboard, one hand supporting the boy, while Stevie got in on her side, cuddling up to two of her three favorite Buckingham men.

"Happy birthday, Linds."

"Thank you, baby." He put his free arm around her shoulders, leaning his head down to give her a kiss. "And thank you my other baby." Lindsey said, rubbing Aiden's back. "What time is it?"

"It's just after 7 am."

"Oh, so which one of you is the early bird then?"

"Me this time." Stevie said. "I woke up and my mind started racing right away about your birthday dinner later tonight."

"You don't have to do it, I told you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to call people on the day and say, you know, Lindsey decided he doesn't want any of you coming over after all, so you can board the next plane back to wherever you came from."

"You love drama, don't you?" It was a risky thing to say, but he got away with lots of things on his birthday. 

"Well, Christine, for example, is coming from England. She's coming for you!"

"No, she is not. She's coming to meet Aiden and it just happened to be my birthday."

"Whatever." Rolling her eyes, Stevie sat up, stretching. "Any special breakfast orders?"

"Mhm, but I don't think it's appropriate for me to be expressing my wishes with an infant in the room."

"Lindsey!" She gasped, then started laughing, shaking her head. "You might be getting older, honey, but you still have a mind of a sixteen year old boy."

"Hey, I can't help it if I have a hot wife, who is to blame for these kind of thoughts arising all the time."

"Hot wife saved your ass, Buckingham." Stevie smirked, reaching for her robe. "I'll be right back, my love."

"Okay."

"Not you." She snorted, leaving his mouth hanging open.

"You're lucky you're the hot wife."

"Well, fine. Maybe I love you a little too." Climbing on the bed again, she got closer to kiss his lips. "You two behave while I'm gone, don't badmouth me."

"We could never!" Lindsey shook his head, picking up Aiden's arms and waving a goodbye to Stevie with them.

Later, around lunch the door bell rang, Stevie telling Lindsey to answer it, as it was probably for him anyway. He opened the door, a smile spreading across his face already. 

"Happy birthday, Dad!" Sara greeted him cheerfully, trying to get forty eight balloons all tied together in through the door, that were everywhere.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Lindsey pulled her in a hug, as then they, along with Todd, looked towards the kitchen, where they heard Stevie's voice.

"What the freaking hell?! I think your father is long past the balloons on birthdays stage, Sara!" While Aiden was absolutely entranced by them.

"Oh relax. Look, Ady likes them! Don't you, sweetie?" Baby talking to the boy, Sara approached her youngest sibling, taking him into her arms from Stevie.

"Are you sure you can carry him?" Lindsey was quick to check. "He's not too heavy for you?"

"No, Dad." Sara smiled, shaking her head. "Besides, I need practice." 

"My God, I still can't believe it." Stevie said, wrapping one arm around Sara's back. "After those hellish months, I couldn't be happier with this flood of good news!" 

After everything with Don, Sara was finally able to wind down and take notice of the changes her body had started going through. At first she thought it was stress and nerves doing their job, but then Stevie suggested seeing a doctor about it. "What if?" - she wondered aloud and Sara listened, booking an appointment. Now she knew, she was close to being three months pregnant.

"We all needed it."

"Yeah, hopefully the Buckingham family has suffered through all of its heartache." Lindsey said, then Todd added. 

"Well, not exactly. There will be that joyous occasion, where I steal one of the family members officially." 

Laughing, Lindsey shrugged his shoulders. "I think I can overlook that one."

"And the wedding!" Stevie exclaimed as if she had forgotten about it. "Gosh, it's next month! How are we going to be ready in ti-"

"Mom, slow down and take a deep breath." Sara put her hand on Stevie's shoulder. "Everything will be fine, don't stress about it. Besides, it's not why we're here today. We're here to celebrate our Dad-"

"Getting even older!" Daryl interrupted, as he and Anna came down the stairs. 

"Thanks, buddy!" Lindsey rolled his eyes, replying with sarcasm. 

"Don't be mean to our old man, Daryl." Sara tried saying with a straight face.

"You know what? I'm going to take Aiden with me, since he can't talk and I'm going to have lots more fun with him than you lot insulting me." He took over his son from Sara, not truly meaning what he said, as he then looked up, meeting three pouting faces. 

"We love you, really." Sara said.

"Yeah, we do, Dad!" Anna added. 

"We do indeed, Linds." Stevie agreed as they all came up to him, kissing his cheek in turns.

"Yeah, you're not too bad." Daryl nodded, patting his father on the back. "Honestly, we couldn't ask for anyone better." 

Smiling at his family, Lindsey sighed heavily. "I love you too, guys. Even you, Todd. You daughter stealing-"

"That will be enough I think." Stevie cut him off as everyone started laughing.

At the end of the day, despite everything that goes on, that hurts one or the other, it's the fact that they all can come back together as a family again. And they were a family in every sense of the word; a caring and loving unity. 

~

THE END

Once again, thank you so so so much for reading, voting and commenting! I loved writing this story, because I adore imagining them as a family. I didn't know where else I could take it, nor did I want to drag it out. I hope the ending was okay :)